


Life's Lessons

by afteriwake



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: 21st Century, Based on a Tumblr Post, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Relationships, Fitting In, High School, Iowa, Kirk's Alma Mater, M/M, Oblivious Spock, POV Kirk, Protective Kirk, Smart Kirk, Teacher Kirk, Teacher Spock, Teaching, Time Travel, trying to get home
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-06
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2019-01-09 17:54:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12281535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: When a piece of alien technology Scotty had found during the later part of their five-year mission transports Kirk and Spock to 21st century Iowa, they make do on the assumption that returning to their time period is an impossibility. But as time goes on, things between them change in ways that surprise and eventually delight them, and suddenly not being able to go home doesn't seem so bad.





	Life's Lessons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GreenSkyOverMe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenSkyOverMe/gifts).



> So I had had [a Tumblr post](http://penaltywaltz.tumblr.com/post/166092535823/your-response-made-me-think-of-an-au-but-since-i) in my drafts folder for ages with contributions from **sansael** / **onedamnminuteadmiral** / **aerica13** / **deheerkonijn** , and I forgetting to ask **GreenSkyOverMe** if she wanted me to try my hand at writing the AU mentioned. I just reblogged it early this morning and got the approval so voila! Here you go.

“This is...problematic,” Spock said with a frown, looking at the device in his and Kirk’s shared hold. 

“No shit,” Kirk said, looking around. He had always wanted to go to the 21st century, ever since he was little, but dammit, he wanted the ability to go _back home_ , too. And the fact that this machine had conked out after bringing them hundreds of years in the past and he knew, because he did occasionally read Scotty’s reports, that the materials to fix it were rare enough in their time and probably didn’t _exist_ in the 21st century…

Well, now he wished he hadn’t wished this wish so hard growing up.

A light flashing near them broke him out of his thoughts. “We need to get out of here,” Kirk said. “I don’t think people are supposed to be in this building.”

“What is this building?” Spock asked, stowing the time travel device in the bag he’d had across his chest, hanging near his hip.

“A school, I think. In old Earth.” In the darkness, he could make out desks and chairs in the archaic forms they had used to take, and an old technology called a whiteboard on one of the walls. He motioned to the window and he and Spock crept over there, with Kirk opening it up as quietly as possible. He was thankful for his rough and tumble youth now, because sneaking in and out of windows was second nature to him, and thankfully Spock made it out without too much noise himself.

And then it hit him.

“Whoa...” he replied, his eyes widening as he saw the name of the school for the first time. “Spock, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.”

“We never were in Kansas, Captain,” he said.

Kirk shook his head. “Famous quote. ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ I’ll make you watch it sometime.” He pointed to the sign. “This is, apparently, my alma mater.”

“So we are in 21st century Iowa?” Spock asked, frowning.

“Apparently,” Kirk said. “Scotty never wrote anything about that thing taking people to places associated with their past, but if Vulcan was still undiscovered and I’d probably not be welcome...” He looked over at Spock. “Can the damn machine think?”

“I am not sure, Captain,” Spock said. “I did not have the time to do adequate studies on the machine before it was activated.”

Kirk thought back to the firefight the Enterprise had been in, how it was the second time the ship had to be abandoned, how he and Spock hadn’t been able to get to Kelvin pods and…

And how they knew they had to protect this machine from the people trying to take it. Damn it all. Why couldn’t Scotty have just left it alone? Left it _exactly_ where it was found so he could be with the rest of his crew?

He was surprised to feel a hand on his shoulder. He had thought it was for comfort but then he looked to where Spock was nodding. The light that had spooked them in the classroom was now veering dangerously out the window they were hiding next to. Kirk nodded and the two of them quietly made their way to the front of the school. He didn’t know much about the history of the town where he’d grown up in the 21st century, only because he’d been more interested in pop culture than town history, but he knew there were bars in abundance because some of the ones he frequented had claimed history all the way back to the early 19th century. He wasn’t sure if it was _true_ , but he was pretty sure by the 21st there had to be at least a handful around.

And bars probably had pool tables.

And if nothing else, Kirk knew his pool. The rules hadn’t changed in hundreds of years, and they were going to need money to get by. He looked over at Spock. “Time for us to be pool sharks,” he said.

“Captain?” Spock asked, confusion furrowing his brow.

Kirk sighed. “We have to hustle people for money because I don’t know about you but I want a warm room and a comfortable bed and some food for the night, and for that? We’re going to put my pool skills to work.”

Realization dawned on Spock them. “Billiards.”

“More or less,” Kirk said. “Find a place to hide the bag and let’s see what we can do.”

“Captain, I would prefer to keep it on my person,” Spock said. “While it cannot be used, I would rather not risk losing it.”

Kirk thought about it and nodded. Spock had a point; there wasn’t really any real chance of fixing it, but one never knew. “Okay, fine. We’ll keep it on us. But let’s go find a bar, get some money, and then bunker down while we figure out what to do. Okay?”

“Alright...Jim,” he said with a nod. The two headed out of the school area and then down the road. Kirk just hoped they didn’t end up in a bar brawl tonight. That would just be icing on the cake to what had turned out to be a very bad day.


End file.
